Part 18 (1/2)

'Oh s.h.i.+t, Suzy, I'm so sorry. Of course you know. You must know exactly how I'm feeling.'

Suzy choked out a laugh. 'That's just the point, Mags. I have absolutely no idea. I've never felt like that I didn't know that's how it's supposed to feel. All I've ever felt since Ian left is anger. I guess it's time I let that go and accepted that maybe what we had was never good enough.'

Maggie reached out and took her sister's hand. There was nothing she could say. After a couple of minutes she pushed herself off her chair. 'Come on, sis. Let's go and see the kids.'

Suzy stood up too, held out her arms and gave Maggie a hard hug. 'No, I'll take care of the kids. You do whatever you need to sort all of this out.'

As Suzy walked back towards the sitting room, Maggie pressed redial again. She was about to hang up when the ringtone stopped, and her heart leaped. Then she heard a voice uncertain, quiet, young.

Not Duncan.

Maggie paced the room as she spoke. 'h.e.l.lo?' She couldn't tell if the voice was male or female, but she didn't want to frighten whoever it was away. 'Hi,' she said, keeping a smile on her face knowing it would be reflected in her voice. 'Thanks for picking up. I wonder if you can help me? Do you think you could tell me where I'm calling exactly? You see, a friend asked me to phone, and I'm not sure if I've got the right number.'

There was silence for a few seconds.

'It's a phone box.'

'Oh, that's great. Thanks. He's probably going to come back then. Err, can you tell me where the phone box is?'

'Near the park.'

'Brilliant. I'm just wondering which park, though. Sorry to be stupid.'

'Heaton Park.'

Maggie felt her tense body sag with relief. At least it wasn't far away, but the park was ma.s.sive. She was also fairly certain that the gates were closed at night, so it was unlikely Duncan would be inside. There must be a park warden, and surely he wouldn't allow anybody to park up overnight?

'Thanks. You've been really helpful. One more thing can you have a look round, do you think? Is there a white van parked anywhere near you?'

The line went dead. Maggie leaned back against the wall, a mixture of frustration that she hadn't managed to get more information and elation that she at least knew where Duncan had been a few hours ago competing for her focus.

'I'm going to find you, Duncan,' she whispered.

41.

Tom had spent too long thinking about Maggie Taylor and what was making her so edgy. He didn't have any answers, so he had to concentrate on what he did know, and that meant focusing on Adam Mellor. The question was, did Adam Mellor have an accomplice? Maggie Taylor had said there were two men in the van that had followed her, so if a second man was involved it would be good to know who he was.

Becky popped her head round the door.

'Louisa Knight has agreed to call in to see us on her way home from work to take a look at the picture of Adam Mellor. Maybe he's been seen around with one of her colleagues. She'll be here in about ten minutes.'

'Let's both see her. I've got a couple more questions to ask her.'

Becky stood looking at him for a second. 'If you're going to talk to her, I think two of us is overkill, frankly. So why don't you get started, and I'll join you when you've got through the pleasantries stage, hmm?'

She turned to leave, but not before Tom had seen the cheeky grin on her face. It wasn't easy to fool Becky. It was obvious that he didn't need to see Louisa. The fact was, he wanted to.

She was waiting in reception when Tom went downstairs, and as he showed her into a small interview room and asked for a cup of tea for both of them he felt a momentary lightening of the weight of concern that he was lugging around with him.

'Sorry to drag you out here again, Louisa. Especially so late in the day. I'm sure you have somewhere better to be.'

Louisa shook her head and smiled. 'Nope. Just an evening in front of the fire. Me, Bailey and a bottle of red.'

'Oh. Then I'm sorry to deprive Bailey of your company this evening,' he said, feeling vaguely disappointed.

She smiled and gave a small shake of the head.

'Don't you worry about Bailey. He'll curl up in front of the wood burner. He'll be fine. My neighbour will let him out.'

Tom relaxed. Dog or cat? he wondered. He was a dog person, and if it hadn't been for his long working hours would have picked one up from Animal Rescue years ago. It sounded like a peaceful, relaxing evening, something Tom wasn't likely to be getting in the near future.

He pushed all thoughts of fires, red wine and dogs to the back of his mind and filled Louisa in with as much detail as he could.

'We have an unusual situation in that a woman is missing who looks very much like your friend Hayley. In fact, when Hayley's body was found, we initially thought she was our missing person. That seems like a h.e.l.l of a coincidence, and we're concerned for the safety of this woman. We've got somebody in our sights who we think might be involved in some way, and I'm hoping you can help.'

'Okay. Is it one of the guys I told you about?'

'No, but I wonder if he might be known to you; perhaps as a friend of one of your colleagues. Bear in mind that this man may well be entirely innocent, so please keep this confidential. Does the name Adam Mellor mean anything to you?'

Louisa placed her forearms on the desk and looked down, her eyes crinkling slightly at the corners as she concentrated. Tom stayed silent. She let about ten seconds pa.s.s.

'No. I'm sorry, but I can't think that I've met anybody by that name, or even heard it mentioned.'

Tom nodded. He showed her the photograph. 'He may be using another name.'

Louisa looked at the photograph that Julian Richmond had emailed through to the office at Becky's request. She stared for quite a long time at the young man with blond hair, slightly pointed chin and an immaculate white s.h.i.+rt.

'I'm sorry. I'm fairly sure I haven't seen him before. He's a good-looking guy in a clean-cut sort of way. He has the look of somebody who comes from money. Would I be right?'

'So it seems,' Tom said. He hadn't really considered Mellor's looks, but he supposed Louisa was right.

'Sorry, Tom. I would have liked to help.' She looked disappointed.

'Don't worry. It was only on the off chance. We're trying to find connections wherever we can, and we're particularly interested in people who either worked or studied at Manchester University around twelve years ago.'

Louisa gave a sad smile. 'That's not going to help much. A lot of our staff trained here in Manchester. There's something about this city that grabs you, once you've lived here, and won't let go.'

'I know what you mean. I had a brief spell in London, but I was glad to get back up north. It must be the weather.'

They both smiled at that.

Louisa stood up. 'I suppose I should go, then. I'm sure you're too busy to sit here chatting to me.' She held her hand out towards Tom, and he took it.

'Thanks for coming. I'm sure I'll be seeing you again,' he said.